Local archbishop lauds choice of new pontiff

San Antonio Archbishop Gustavo Garcia-Siller speaks before a Mass at San Fernando Cathedral in celebration of the selection of an Argentinian cardinal as the new pope on Wednesday, March 13, 2013.

Photo By San Antonio Express-News

San Antonio Archbishop Gustavo Garcia-Siller prays before a Mass at San Fernando Cathedral in celebration of the selection of an Argentinian cardinal as the new pope on Wednesday, March 13, 2013.

Photo By Bob Owen/San Antonio Express-News

Kevin McManus checks his smart phone, as he sits in a pew in San Fernando Cathedral, for the announcement of the new Pope in the Vatican, on Wednesday, March 13, 2013, at San Fernando Cathedral. McManus is catholic and is interested in who the next Pope will be.

Leslie Brogan, from Katy, reacts to the announcement of the new pope outside San Fernando Cathedral Wednesday.

Photo By San Antonio Express-News

San Antonio Archbishop Gustavo Garcia-Siller enters San Fernando Cathedral by a statue of Pope John Paul II, who visited the cathedral in 1987. A Mass was said in celebration of the selection of an Argentinian cardinal as the new pope on Wednesday, March 13, 2013.

Photo By San Antonio Express-News

A member of the Knights of Columbus participates in a Mass to celebrate the new Pope Francis I at San Fernando Cathedral on March 13, 2013.

Photo By Bob Owen/San Antonio Express-News

Rene Zimmermann of Houston, stops to take a picture of a statue of Pope John Paul II in San Fernando Cathedral, who visited the Alamo city in 1987. Zimmermann, a catholic, said, "it doesn't matter where he's from, but wheather or not they can lead the church", of the announcement of the new Pope in the Vatican, on Wednesday, March 13, 2013.

Photo By San Antonio Express-News

A woman recites a prayer from a card printed to celebrate the new Pope Francis I during a Mass at San Fernando Cathedral on Wednesday, March 13, 2013.

Photo By Billy Calzada/San Antonio Express-News

A statue of Pope John Paul II, who visited San Fernando Cathedral in 1987, seems to watch over a Mass at the cathedral on Wednesday, March 13, 2013, to celebrate the naming of Jorge Mario Bergoglio of Argentina as the new Pope Francis I.

Photo By Billy Calzada/San Antonio Express-News

San Antonio Archbishop Gustavo Garcia-Siller, wearing the cap, and other clergy celebrate a Mass at San Fernando Cathedral on Wednesday, March 13, 2013, to mark the naming of Jorge Mario Bergoglio of Argentina as the new Pope Francis I.

Photo By Billy Calzada/San Antonio Express-News

Members of the Knights of Columbus prepare to participate in a Mass at San Fernando Cathedral on Wednesday, March 13, 2013, to celebrate the naming of Jorge Mario Bergoglio of Argentina as the new Pope Francis I.

Photo By Peter Macdiarmid/Getty Images

VATICAN CITY, VATICAN - MARCH 13: Newly elected Pope Francis I appears on the central balcony of St Peter's Basilica on March 13, 2013 in Vatican City, Vatican. Argentinian Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio was elected as the 266th Pontiff and will lead the world's 1.2 billion Catholics. (Photo by Peter Macdiarmid/Getty Images)

Photo By AFP/Getty

Argentina's Jorge Bergoglio, elected Pope Francis I (C) appears at the window of St Peter's Basilica's balcony after being elected the 266th pope of the Roman Catholic Church on March 13, 2013 at the Vatican.

Photo By AFP/Getty

New Pope, Argentinian cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio appears at the window of St Peter's Basilica's balcony after being elected the 266th pope of the Roman Catholic Church on March 13, 2013 at the Vatican.

Photo By Peter Macdiarmid/Getty

Newly elected Pope Francis I appears on the central balcony of St Peter's Basilica on March 13, 2013 in Vatican City, Vatican. Argentinian Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio was elected as the 266th Pontiff and will lead the world's 1.2 billion Catholics.

Photo By Victor R. Caivano

Members of the Brotherhood of the Holy Spirit pray inside the Metropolitan Cathedral in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Wednesday, March 13, 2013.

Photo By Oded Balilty

Visitors wait for the smoke from the chimney on the Sistine Chapel during the second day of the conclave to elect a new pope, in St. Peter's Square, at the Vatican, Wednesday, March 13, 2013. Black smoke indicates that no pope was elected. Black smoke again billowed from the chimney of the Sistine Chapel on Wednesday, meaning that Catholic cardinals hadn't elected a pope on their second or third rounds of balloting.

San Antonio Archbishop Gustavo García-Siller praised newly elected Pope Francis on Wednesday night as a leader with a passion to uplift the world's poor, describing his election as a “prophetic moment to awaken our faith.”

An audience of more than 500 packed San Fernando Cathedral to pray for the new pontiff from Argentina during a special Mass of thanksgiving in his honor, applauding enthusiastically after García-Siller shouted: “Que viva el papa!” or “Long live the pope!”

“Pope Francis has a history of speaking courageously for Catholic values and has been a voice for the poor and marginalized, the value of every human life and the authentic teaching of the Catholic Church,” García-Siller said at a news conference before the Mass.

The timing of his election, his fervor for the disadvantaged and his Latin American identity will immediately boost the potential of the archdiocese's strategic growth plan called “A Future in Faith,” García-Siller said.

Years of research and months of listening sessions across the archdiocese have gone into the plan, set for release in May, which aims in part to tackle the greatest challenge facing Francis today: an increasingly secular world, he said.

“We need new prophets and people to speak in new ways,” he said. “In a world secularized and that has kind of put God aside, this is a great moment. ... In the new context of today, we need to address the new crowds. We are new generations. There has to be new methods, new enthusiasm.”

“He was not on anyone's first-tier list, but after I looked at his life and background, what a marvelous choice,” said Father Christopher Phillips, pastor of Our Lady of Atonement Catholic Church in San Antonio.

Bergoglio was known for his humble lifestyle and missionary training from the Jesuit religious order. Instead of entitlement as he moved up the ranks, he regularly took public buses, lived in a small apartment and cooked his own meals.

The unprecedented choice of Francis as his papal name was a likely nod to St. Francis of Assisi, one of the greatest champions of the poor in church history and heralded as a virtuous social reformer.

Pope Francis will invariably spotlight the plight of the world's impoverished communities and call on Catholics to reach out more with compassion and equality, said William Buhrman, theology department chairman at St. Mary's University.

“Taking the name Francis echoes that the Catholic Church needs to focus on service to the poor rather than getting caught up in political debates,” he said. “It's a signal that he wants to change the conversation and reconnect the church with its deep roots in spirituality.”

For Bob Walden, a Catholic reformer in San Antonio, Francis' reforms likely won't include a liberal agenda, such as gay marriage or female ordination. While highly regarded for his social conscience, Francis is known for preserving his faith's socially conservative theology.

“My hope is that the apparent signs of his humility are accurate, and that he's open to dialogue and conversation about what is needed in the church today,” said Walden, a former San Antonio priest now married and with the unsanctioned reform group Corpus.

For Frankie Martinez, 22, who works in the San Fernando Cathedral gift shop, Francis has the potential to resolve problems plaguing the church, such as the lingering scourge of pedophile priests.

“I know there's a lot of the scandals hanging around from years and years before, so I hope he can clear some of that up,” he said.Many local priests anticipate the new pope's Latin American identity will draw more Hispanics to the U.S. Catholic church. Hispanics are projected to be the majority in the U.S. Catholic Church in about a decade and about 40 percent of the world's Catholics are from Latin America.

They share his native language of Spanish, which the San Antonio archbishop highlighted at Wednesday's bilingual Mass.

Instead of reciting an opening prayer for Francis in English, he told the majority Hispanic audience to say it first in Spanish to honor “the first Latino pope.”

“The cardinals wanted someone to speak to the developing world and looked for someone that might be in a position to take the church not so much in a new direction but present the church in new ways,” said Father David Garcia, who attended the Mass.

“There's no question that as the first non-European pope in modern times, it opens up the whole of Africa and Asia and Latin America to say the leadership of the church is a worldwide phenomenon.”

On Francis' to-do list is filling the vacancy created by last month's departure of former Auxiliary Bishop Oscar Cantu to head a diocese in New Mexico. García-Siller has requested Cantu be replaced with two new auxiliary bishops, at least one of whom is expected to be Hispanic.

San Antonio's small community of Argentines expressed everything from shocked exhilaration to muted regret.

“When I heard the cardinal announce the name 'Jorge Mario' on the television I shouted out his last name 'Bergoglio.' I just couldn't believe it,” said Gabriela Falcón, 33, who said every Argentine Catholic would have instantly recognized the name.

“The happiness I have as a Catholic and as an Argentine is inexpressible,” she said.

Falcón, who came to the United States three years ago, knew Bergoglio in Buenos Aires, as a priest and as an associate of her husband, a Muslim, when the two worked together in an interfaith organization.

“My personal impression of him is that he worked a lot with the poor and drug addicts, in the poorest barrios. And you could run into him riding on the subway in Buenos Aires,” she said.

Jorge Amodio, too, has favorable personal memories of Bergoglio as a prominent figure.

“I think it was about time. Having a pope from this side of the world is very good,” Amodio said.

Beatrice Johnston, 76, who pronounced herself “shocked” at Bergoglio's selection, having seen the Brazilian and U.S. candidates as more probable, but said it may check the steady decline of the faith in the Americas.

“It's fantastic for Latin American Catholics. Right now, the church is fighting a war, and losing Catholics to other religions. This will be very important,” she added.

But not all Argentines now living in San Antonio were heartened by the selection.

Aida Cragnolino, 76, who is Jewish and fled Argentina in 1976 during the rule of a military dictatorship in which 30,000 people disappeared, finds his character sorely wanting.

“He was silent. He didn't raise his voice against the violations of civil rights. People disappeared. There was torture,” she said of Argentina's Dirty War.